Annunciator.



PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904.

T. W. GLEESON. ANNUNGIATOR.

APPLIOATIOK FILED JULY 20, 1900.

2 SHEETS-SHEIBT 1.

N0 MODEL.

fwmg

PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904.

T. W.- GLEESON.

ANNUNOIATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 20, 1900.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

NO MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented September 27, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS vW. GLEESON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO ABRAHAM B. COFFIN, OF WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

ANNUNCIATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 771,142, da ed Sep ember 27, 1904.

Application filed July 20, 1900,

To all, whom it may cnce rn:

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. GL EsoN, of

' Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of in the screen.

Massachusetts, have invented anew and useful Annunciator, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part hereof, in which- Figure 1 is ,a front elevation of the working partsof my annunciator with the screen removed. Fig. 2 is an edge view indicated, by arrow 2. Fig. 3 is an edge view indicated by arrow 3. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are diagrams described below. I

Annunciators as ordinarily made comprise a screen with one or more holes through it and a shutter, so called, which is usually an indicating-disk mounted on or controlled by an armature, so that when a magnet is energized the shutter drops or is moved to make the indicating-disk visible through the hole Usually the shutter is moved one way only by the action of the magnet; but an annunciator with two magnets whose shutteris moved in one direction by one magnet and back by the second magnet is described in Patent No. 608,100, dated July 20, 1898, to John Lewis Bixby; and my invention is an annunciator of that class and is designed to be used in connection with gas-fixtures, as shown in the Bixby patent, although it is also adapted for use in all cases where any double announcement is desiredas, for example, turning a cock to let on gas moves the shutter and causes the disk to be visible through one hole in thescreen, while turning that cock to shut off the gas moves the shutter to another position and either causes the disk to be hidden by the screen or else-makes it visible through another hole in the screen. Another example would be in case it was desired to know whether a door was open or shut, when the disk would be visible through a hole marked Open or invisible as the door was open or shut, or it might be visible through a hole marked Open when the door was open, but through 1 another hole marked "Shut when the door was shut.

Serial No. 24,301. (No model.)

' Much difliculty has been found in the manufacture of this double -annunciator, for it is essential that the working parts be inexpenjustment simple and easily made, and when each instrument must comprise many shutters and a pair. of magnets and contacts for each shutter it will be readily seen that any nice adjustment of each shutter and its magnets and contacts is practically prohibitory.

.Myinventionis the combination of a pair of magnets and an armature common to both with a shutter on v.an axis separate and distinct from the .axis of the armature, substantially as explained below, so that when either magnet isv energized it attracts its armature, shifts the shutter, and shifts the contacts in order that the other magnet may be energized, and causes the weight of the armature and the weight'of the shutter to counterbalance one another and tend to produce a condition of stable equilibrium when the shutter is in 'either of its two positions.

In Fig. 4 the shutter A is .shown with its disk a visible through the ,hole On in the screen B. The center of gravity of shutterA is well above the axis a, on which the shutter is mounted, and therefore the shutter must be held against the force of gravity when in the position shown in Fig. 4,'and this is also true when the;shutter'is in its other position, as indicated in Fig. 5., The armature B has its center of gravity well below its axis 6. so that it would hang vertically were it not supported in its inclined position by shutter A. If shutter A were nicely balanced on its axis a and armatureB hung vertically from its axis 6, as in Fig. 6, a slight push in either direction would cause shutter A to move one hundred and eighty degrees on its axis at, its center of gravity being above its axis a, were it not sooner arrested; butin my invention as soon as shutter A has moved a few degrees on axis a a portion of shutter A engages a portion of armature B, and hence the momentum of A swings B, and A is brought to rest by swinging B, and both A and B come to rest in one or the other of the two positions shown in sive as to both labor and material and the ad- Figs. 4 and 5 after A has passed from the position of unstable equilibrium, (Shown in Fig. 6.)

Armature B controls switch D substantially as in the Bixby paten that is, when armature B is midway between its magnets F and F both switch-points d" and d are connected by switch-bar d with binding-post (i but when armature B is nearer magnet F point d is disconnected from post (i and when armature B is nearer magnet F point d is disconnected from post 0Z but all this will be clear to all skilled in the art without further description, as will also the wiring. (Shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1.)

While the details of construction are of comparativel y little importance, yet I have found it highly desirable that the armature B should swing between its magnets and carry a pin which engages a slot near the lower end of shutter A, and; this is a secondfeature of my invention, for when. thusconstructed theparts may be made in quantities and at the mini-- mum cost and will: when; assembled be found 1 in practically perfect adjustment.

As itisimportant that the distancebetween the armature andv the other mag-netbe as small as: possible, lso proportion the parts that thepoles of the magnet, in fact, actas stops for the armature, and hence the armature acts as a positive stop for the shntterwhen the shutter reaches: either limit of its motion; but there is no. injurious rebounds, for the reason that the armature has acted by its weight to retard' the movement ofi'the shutter before the action of the armature and magnet as a posi':- time stop takes place. When the parts areproperly proportioned, the armature will: be arrested by the usual nonemagnetic materiali between the poles of the magnet and the armature when the armature and shutter havecome nearly to a standstill, so that the shock will? bevery slight and. the rebound almost imperceptible.

, The operation needs but a brief description and is as follows:- Whenswitch is operated: by bringing bar g intocontactwiZth point 9, magnet F will? be energized and; armature B? will be moved toward: magnet F unti arma time B reachesor slightlypasses the vertical; i when; the circuit through magnet F will be 5 broken atelectroded and; bat-d and armature B will thereafter move against the force of gravity; but when armature B" first moves its pin 5 engages the end of the slot in the inturned end a of shutter Aand swings shutter A on its axis a, armature B carrying shutter A past the vertical, when shutter A keeps on until the slot in end a overtakes the pin 6, when the motion of A is. retarded and the motion of B correspondingly accelerated, which alone would bring both A and B to a stop, as explained above; but armature B has by that time closely approached its then inert magnet F and will be; positively stopped by F, and shutter A will come to a standstill as soon as armature B comes to a standstill, whether because armature B is stopped positively or by gravity;- but in either event the stopping 013' both shutter A and armature B will be gentle andthere will be no injurious rebound". This description applies with manifest changes to operating-switcl r G by bringi-ng bar g into contact with point 9 What I- cl'aim, as invention is In combination a pair of oppositely dis- ,posed el'ectromagnets; an armature pivoted 1 near its: upper end one tace of which is adja- E cent to the-two active poles 0t one, of the mag 1 nets, the other-tace adjacent tothe two active 1 polreso-f thee-their; a shutter counterbalancing jthe armature on an axis separate from the axis of the armature, and swung to-one position when the armature is attracted by the gtwo active pol'esoi? one magnet, and resting in. that position until a main: switch is-shi fted l to send acurrenttl r-rough the coil 01' the other magnet; that mainswitch to determine which i of the two-magnets shall be in circuit; and an automatic switchoperated' by the armature to complete a circuit through the coil of one- 1 magnet when the main. switch and the auto matic switch correspond, but to break that ,circuit assoon astheswing of the armature ishii'ts: the automatie switch, and throws the I shutter torits new position, where it remains untilthe main: switch is shit-ted to: send a cur-- rent through the coil of the other magnet, and thereby shift the armature and the shut ter backto' their former positions.

WV. GLEESON. Witnesses:

J E. MAYNADIER, ARmHUR F. RAN-BALL. 

